Thursday, May 20, 2010

For once, football is not at the front of Haitian minds. In the throes of rebuilding after January’s earthquake that killed nearly a quarter of a million people, left one million more without homes and destroyed the infrastructure of an already poverty-stricken nation, the beautiful game is a passing concern at best for wounded Haiti.

Stability is a long way off for, but a slight bump in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola world ranking represents a small victory for the colourful Caribbean islanders that famously qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals back in West Germany in 1974. There are few countries that can match Haiti’s passion for football under normal circumstances, despite her many troubles. The national team, currently in ninth place in the CONCACAF zone (North, Central America and the Caribbean) and 87th overall in the world, is amazingly starting to pick up the pieces and look ahead.